My Stroke

[softshot]

I did not do as well as usual on my drills today..

I poured over the video... I cannot find any mechanical flaws.... ok.. I do jump up on few shots..

I am showing it to you warts and all..

first section stroke speed.. I hit my target 7 out of 10 times.. I usually hit 9 or 10

second section is my alignment drill... the good old fashioned straight up the table and back to your cue tip drill... the second shot really bugs me... because mechanically I cant find anything wrong..

the third section is high speed with top spin.. that one is my best performance of the group..

what am I doing wrong???

I can't see it on the video..

so lets see what the more experienced eye can find

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igLFXaMUCaQ

 

[randyg]

Good morning my friend

I watched the entire video and this is what I see.

1. Is your bridge a little longer than normal???

2. You definitely need a longer SET position! (eyes)

3. Your tip foul at two minutes might have been the result of no STANDING CHECKLIST. When you TRAIN like this you must use all three of your Checklists.

I will be in Mankato for two weeks, let's meet and review, no charge.

I would like to hear what Scott Lee & Steve Jennings think also.
randyg

 

[Blackjack]

This is what I saw -

Your bridge is definite too long. The farther your bridge is from the cue ball, the less control you will have on the accuracy of your stroke.

I watched your cue on your warm up strokes and your final delivery...

Your cue goes up and down, not straight back or straight forward. While your cue is doing this, it leaves the opportunity for you to hit up or down on the cue ball. Let me explain that in more detail - if the stroke is not level and fluid - then your follow through won't be level and fluid either. If the tip is moving upward at an angle, you will come off the cue ball every time prior to the full extension of your follow through.

You might hit the ball where you want, and you might make the ball and get position, but there is always room for improvement.

Your bridge is the main problem. The function of the bridge is to stabilize and guide the shaft of the cue. If your bridge is weak or unstable, your stroke will be too. I believe that is the main issue with the movement of your cue.

Now to how you contact the ball...

There is a difference between a hit and a stroke.

A hit is a directed impact or collision between two objects. A baseball player uses a baseball bat to hit a baseball.

A stroke is a series of to and fro movements that are smooth, even, and fluid. A violinist strokes the bow across the violin.

You wouldn't want to use a violinist's bow to hit a home run, and you would never want to play the violin with a baseball bat, would you? It's the same thing with stroking the cue ball.

On the last part of the video, you "hit" every one of those balls. There is a distinct difference between hitting and stroking - I can tell the difference merely by the sound the tip makes when it contacts the cue ball.

Everything looks, feels, and sounds different when you are stroking the ball. You will see that if you contact the cue ball properly, that the object balls will react differently.

Watch the way the balls moved for Mizerak and Mosconi. It was as if the balls respected who was commanding them. You should go for that type of beauty and control. Even if you fall short, I guarantee that you'll be eons ahead of where you were yesterday. Trust me on that!

I recently did a few videos for Dennis Walsh that are on youtube. He was having problems with his mechanics, and I offered my less than perfect mechanics to contrast his own stroke deficiencies. Here are the links to those videos. If you have any further questions, I would definitely pass the baton over to the SPF guys - they know more about this stuff than I ever will.

I hope you can get something out of these videos -

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

.
.
.

 

[pooltchr]

In the first drill, the stroke motion looks pretty good. At 2:30, you did come out of your shot a little quickly. You may want to practice that Freeze. Remember, Freeze is where you get your feedback. Without it, you are missing the opportunity to learn from the shot.

I agree with Randy that your bridge distance looks to be pretty long. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the bridge you use with your fingers tucked under your hand, as it may allow a bit of instability, but if you are comfortable with it, I don't know if is a big issue.

In the second (alignment) drill with the view from behind, you seem to have your grip hand tucked in toward your body. I only saw the result of the first shot, where the ball came back to your right. You might be steering your shots a little bit to compemsate for not having your grip hand directly under your elbow.

The third segment (MD2) you pretty much forgot all about Set and Pause, and not much finish either. But what really bothered me was that you never stood up between shots. By just sliding over to the nest ball, you are skipping your entire pre-shot routine, and just firing them in. To get the most out of the drill, don't be in such a rush. You aren't just drilling mechanics, you are alos hardwiring your brain to go through the same full shooting process on EVERY shot. There is no shot clock on your practice drills.

Not bad, overall, but I think you can make a couple of minor adjustments to make it better.

Steve

 

[JLD]

From what I can see in the video you have a couple problems with your technique. First and probably the worst is that your are often jumping up before your stroke is compete as evidenced at the 58 sec, 144 sec, 214 sec and 237 sec marks of your stroke demonstration. It's sort of hard to see unless you put the video in pause and move the slider manually to each of the sec marks as listed above.

The second problem I see is that you appear to keep your wrist straight instead of letting it break as your forearm moves past verticle on the contact stroke which forces the cue tip to move down as it completes contact with the cue ball. Your cue tip should be moving straight through the cue ball at contact...it should not be changing directions whether sideways or up and down unless that is your intention.

Another possible problem might be with your stance as it appears that your shoulder is far to the right of the cue line rather than directly over it as shown in the attached pic below. This is more evident in your Spin Transfer video at the 11 sec mark. This might of course be an illusion of the camera angle but it might be something you want to check.

 

[Scott Lee]

softshot...This is why Randyg wanted both Steve and I to see this video. More eyes make for a better view! I picked up on a very important thing, that both of them missed.

Yes, it is definitely true that your set is way too short. Try this, as some structured, focused practice, for your SPF...when you go through your mantra (in your head), add the the word "one thousand", to set...as in SET ONE THOUSAND, pause, finish. The time it takes to say (or think) the word 'one thousand' will add enough time to your set, to get your brain straight, before you pull back and finish your stroke. I am much less inclined to be concerned about your bridge length. Your grip position is dead on; you transition very smoothly, at the end of your backswing; and your finish is PERFECT...nice loose grip, with perfect knuckle tilt (the poster who said your wrist didn't break is wrong). You are definitely right on your template on every shot! Good job!:thumbup:

Now...here's what both Steve and Pops missed. Your PEP is all but nonexistent. In the 2nd shot, you had a perfect PEP #1. Other than that, it looked to me like you were looking the same place all the way through your routine. More important, even than that...whatever PEP you choose (and from the video, I can't tell what you really are...#1 or #3), it has to be the same on every shot. The REAL key here (nobody caught this), is when you drop down into your shooting stance, once you're settled, your cue is supposed to stay still (with the tip VERY close to the CB), and then 2 seconds of hard focus on the CB, and then the OB (this is after you're done "aiming" and "adjusting", but before your cue moves in your preshot routine). There is ZERO focus before you begin your warmup cycle. You drop down, line up quickly, and go right into your preshot routine. When you practice MD#3, FORCE yourself to count out the focus (one one thousand, two one thousand), on both the CB and OB. That gives your brain time to get the visual information it needs, to tell your arm to go ahead and shoot. I'll guarantee you that's why you fouled on the one shot. One of my students (elvicash) went out and bought an inexpensive metronome, so he could actually HEAR the audible "click", and know when two seconds was up. Remember, too, that the 2 second focus, on each ball, is a MINIMUM. Some people may need more! One more thing...in MD#4, which was half of the video, you're supposed to freeze, and let the ball come back to your tip. Again, like Steve said, the freeze is where you get your feedback. It will also eliminate the jumping up that happened on some shots. Like Steve said, stand up, and start your process over again, on every shot...rather then just sliding over to the next ball, while still down on the table. You obviously are a fast player...but your tempo and rythym has to still keep all the elements, in order for it to become like "riding a bike with no hands" (unconscious)!

Oh yeah...one more thing. Your alignment is fine...again the previous poster is noticing something that is not there, imo.

Other than these small issues, I sure like your process! :thumbup:

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

I did not do as well as usual on my drills today..

I poured over the video... I cannot find any mechanical flaws.... ok.. I do jump up on few shots..

I am showing it to you warts and all..

first section stroke speed.. I hit my target 7 out of 10 times.. I usually hit 9 or 10

second section is my alignment drill... the good old fashioned straight up the table and back to your cue tip drill... the second shot really bugs me... because mechanically I cant find anything wrong..

the third section is high speed with top spin.. that one is my best performance of the group..

what am I doing wrong???

I can't see it on the video..

so lets see what the more experienced eye can find

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igLFXaMUCaQ

 

[softshot]

thanks everyone..

1. Randy anytime you want to hang out with me and talk about pool I am there.. shoot me an e-mail if you need my number

Blackjack thanks for the vids... lots of good info there..

. I guess I took the chunking information thing to heart..

when I do MD1 I don't worry about anything except my stroke... my focus is on my stroking arm and my elbow.. and that is it... my evaluation and grade for that drill has nothing to do with where the balls went. I give all my concentration to my stroke..

on MD2 you are right I am not worried about checklists or my stroke. I am worried about my grip that is my focus that is where my concentration is that is what I am working on at that time


on the speed drill I focus on .. speed I make myself very conscious of my bicep how it feel when I hit a good one.. that is my focus at that time



I look at it kinda like a computer program each portion of my game is like a subroutine ..if you perfect each subroutine the program will run well..

if I had showed my eye pattern drill or any drill with an OB you would have seen a longer set and a longer pause.. as my program stops to allow that sub routine to run


and JLD you and steve both pointed out the forearm problem.. I'm unsure I'll let randy see it in person...and we will go from there

thanks everyone

 

[pooltchr]

I hear what you are saying, and to a degree, you are correct. Each MD is designed to address a specific part of your game. But, and it's a big but, you shouldn't allow other parts of your stroke to get away from you. When I do my speed drill, I still make sure I follow SPF/F. Same with alignment or PEP drills. In the beginning, your primary focus should be on the goal of the drill. But as you move forward, everything should start to come together in every stroke. If SPF goes out the window when you are working on speed, you're hurting yourself. And my approach (SSS Checklists) is also a big part of every shot.

The way you practice is the way you are going to play.

Steve

 

[JLD]

(the poster who said your wrist didn't break is wrong).

3 different shots at 10 sec, 33 sec and 58 sec....wrist looks pretty straight to me.

 

[JLD]

Oh yeah...one more thing. Your alignment is fine...again the previous poster is noticing something that is not there, imo.

As I stated in my first post your alignment appears to have your shoulder out of line. Here are some pics that seem to demonstrate the misalignment but again as stated before might be an illusion of the camera angle.

First pic is from your spin video at the 11 sec mark which appears to show your right shoulder is well to the right of the line of the cue. The next 2 pics are from your original video at the 2:52 mark. I have added 3 lines in the second 2:52 pic to show where the head, wrist and shoulder alignments are. At the very least you can see the elbow certainly isn't aligned over the wrist whether there is a camera illusion or not. Your forearm appears to be angled in towards your body which can easily cause you to try and guide the cue ball on the final stroke.

Whether you have an alignment problem or not is something that needs to be determined by your instructor in person but the pics do indicate that the possibility exists.

 

[softshot]

I hear what you are saying, and to a degree, you are correct. Each MD is designed to address a specific part of your game. But, and it's a big but, you shouldn't allow other parts of your stroke to get away from you. When I do my speed drill, I still make sure I follow SPF/F. Same with alignment or PEP drills. In the beginning, your primary focus should be on the goal of the drill. But as you move forward, everything should start to come together in every stroke. If SPF goes out the window when you are working on speed, you're hurting yourself. And my approach (SSS Checklists) is also a big part of every shot.

The way you practice is the way you are going to play.

Steve

I see what your saying..

my approach has been;

in the first half of my workout MD 1-5 I worry about each piece of the puzzle one at a time. and give full concentration to each

then I take a short break

the second half of the workout MD6 and 7 my custom aiming workout and my custom break workout, 70 shots total.

that is when I focus on putting the pieces together.

Scott's compliment on a perfect finish on every shot pleases me because it shows that it really is becoming unconscious.. I didn't TRY to finish any of those strokes.. it just happened.

 

[softshot]

3 different shots at 10 sec, 33 sec and 58 sec....wrist looks pretty straight to me.

just for the record my wrist is SUPPOSED to be straight.. all a wrist break is, is a band aid that masks a problem in this case the grip.. if you break your wrist it is generally a compensation for a tight grip..

my motto is SIMPLIFY I want to remove all unnecessary variables..

and the wrist break is an unnecessary variable

as to the other issue... maybe... like I said I'll have Randy check that out in person

thanks for the input

 

[randyg]

Yes, your hand is in a perfect FINISH position. Wrist is perfect.....randyg

 

[Scott Lee]

As Randyg mentioned...this is a PERFECT finish position, with the correct grip pressure (notice the knuckle tilt).

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

3 different shots at 10 sec, 33 sec and 58 sec....wrist looks pretty straight to me.

 

[Scott Lee]

JLD...Okay, I see what you're saying. However...in the long run, it's much more important that the student can DELIVER the cue into the straight line that they perceive (which, to me, looks like Softshot does). I've had several students with 'chicken wings' WAY more prominent than Softshot's. In the cases where they could still deliver the cue, in a straight line, I did not try to "fix" 'the problem'...because it wasn't a problem. If they failed to be able to accurately and repeatedly deliver the cue, in a straight line (because the forearm wasn't dead in line with everything else, then I would make the decision to adjust that, for the player. In this case, no adjustment is needed...and it's only VERY slightly out of perfect alignment anyway! Don't try to fix what ain't broke! JMO

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

As I stated in my first post your alignment appears to have your shoulder out of line. Here are some pics that seem to demonstrate the misalignment but again as stated before might be an illusion of the camera angle.

First pic is from your spin video at the 11 sec mark which appears to show your right shoulder is well to the right of the line of the cue. The next 2 pics are from your original video at the 2:52 mark. I have added 3 lines in the second 2:52 pic to show where the head, wrist and shoulder alignments are. At the very least you can see the elbow certainly isn't aligned over the wrist whether there is a camera illusion or not. Your forearm appears to be angled in towards your body which can easily cause you to try and guide the cue ball on the final stroke.

Whether you have an alignment problem or not is something that needs to be determined by your instructor in person but the pics do indicate that the possibility exists.

 

[JLD]

Don't try to fix what ain't broke!

I couldn't agree more.